Sepcial Report: Tension accelerates in Iraq

    BAGHDAD, March 23 (Xinhua) -- A car bomb struck a police commando patrol near a popular market in a southwestern Baghdad district on Thursday, killing five people, including four commando members and wounding 22 others, a police source told Xinhua.

    "A car bomb parking near a crowded popular market in the Shurtaal-Khamsa neighborhood, struck a passing police commando patrol at about 1:30 p.m. (1030 GMT), killing four of them and a civilian, and wounding four commando members and 18 civilians," the source said on condition of anonymity.

    Earlier on Thursday, three car bombings including a suicide one, detonated in Baghdad targeting Iraqi police forces.

    In a latest police report about the suicide car bombing, which targeted the major crimes directorate in central Baghdad, the police put the death toll to 15 killed and 32 wounded, most of them policemen, the source said.

    Insurgents frequently attack Iraqi security forces in an attempt to cripple the U.S.-backed political process in the war-torn country. Enditem